HARRISBURG — State Attorney General Kathleen Kane was ordered Friday to explain why she fired a key prosecutor, and two of her offices were searched as part of the Montgomery County district attorney's investigation into whether she should face perjury charges related to grand jury leaks.

Montgomery County Judge William Carpenter ordered Kane to appear in a public courtroom to tell a three-judge panel why her firing of the prosecutor was not witness intimidation. A court order barred retaliation against employees who testified against her in a grand jury investigation. The hearing is scheduled for April 27.

"In the event that the protective order was violated, an indirect criminal contempt proceeding will follow forthwith," Carpenter wrote.

Also Friday, Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman issued search warrants for Kane's office in Norristown, her headquarters in Harrisburg and for her emails, according to sources.

Ferman took the case after the state Supreme Court last month rejected Kane's challenge of a grand jury investigation into whether she or someone in her office leaked grand jury secrets to the Philadelphia Daily News to discredit her critics. The grand jury found Kane lied and abused the power of her office.

Carpenter's order came two days after Kane dismissed James P. Barker, former chief deputy attorney general in charge of criminal appeals and logistics for statewide investigating grand juries.

Carpenter, who presides over grand juries in eastern Pennsylvania, issued an order Aug. 24 that protected Barker and other agency personnel who testified during the grand jury investigation into the Daily News leak. Barker was subpoenaed to testify by special prosecutor Thomas Carluccio, whom Carpenter appointed to the case.

"Employees in the office of attorney general shall refrain from engaging in, or soliciting, any act of obstruction, intimidation or retaliation against any witnesses summoned by the grand jury in the special prosecutor's investigation," the months-old order stated.

STEVE ESACK, THE MORNING CALL

James Barker, the prosecutor fired this week by Attorney General Kathleen Kane.

James Barker, the prosecutor fired this week by Attorney General Kathleen Kane.

(STEVE ESACK, THE MORNING CALL)

Through her spokesman Lanny Davis, Kane denied the firing was retaliation.

"I can reassure Judge Carpenter that the personnel decisions over the last two years, including the most recent ones, were 100 percent appropriate management decisions by Attorney General Kane consistent with her campaign themes and commitments to the people of Pennsylvania for reform and efficiency in the Office of Attorney General," Davis said. "She also categorically denies that these personnel decisions were in any way retaliatory — they were made on the merits for the reasons just stated."

Barker, who has taken his firing with calm, smiles and shrugs, declined to talk about Carpenter's order during an interview Friday at his home in Lower Paxton Township, Dauphin County.

Barker said he was in Philadelphia on Wednesday, arguing against a convicted Pike County murderer's appeal in federal court. When the hearing wrapped up around 1:30 p.m., he discovered a message ordering him to return to Harrisburg.

When he got back to the office, Barker said, Executive Deputy Attorney General Larry Cherba told him he was being let go and did not give a reason. Agents then escorted him out of the building and later allowed him back to collect some personal effects.

"I'm 53 years old and I've never been fired from a job in my entire life," said Barker, who was a Dauphin County assistant district attorney before being hired by the state prosecutor's office six years ago.

Kane's office initially told The Philadelphia Inquirer that Barker's firing was part of an office restructuring and had "absolutely nothing" to do with his testimony. Her office later said Barker was let go due to alleged leaks from an unspecified sitting grand jury.

Barker said he did not know what Kane was referring to in alleging he was fired for grand jury leaks. In his role setting up grand juries, Barker said, he is not part of the secret investigative court proceedings, nor does he write presentments that recommend criminal or civil charges.

Carpenter's order is the latest legal problem stemming from Carluccio's court-initiated investigation of Kane, the first Democrat and first woman elected Pennsylvania attorney general.

The grand jury probe began in May after Frank Fina, a former prosecutor in the attorney general's office who has criticized Kane, told Carpenter the Daily News was asking about a 2009 grand jury case involving J. Whyatt Mondesire, a political activist and one-time Philadelphia NAACP chapter president, court records show.

Fina worked on the Mondesire case, which did not lead to charges and was kept secret until the Daily News got two items: a 2009 memo written by then-Deputy Attorney General William Davis Jr., and a transcript of a March 21, 2014, interview with special agent Michael Miletto, who had worked on the Mondesire case and criticized Fina's handling of it.

The Miletto recording was made five days after The Philadelphia Inquirer published a story critical of Kane's decision to drop a sting investigation into Philadelphia state lawmakers accused of accepting cash from an undercover informant. Fina was a lead prosecutor working with the informant.

Carluccio subpoenaed Kane to testify in the grand jury. Before her testimony, Kane admitted to reporters that she authorized the Daily News to get the Miletto transcript, but not the Davis memo.

In December, the grand jury recommended Kane face perjury and other charges. That same month, Kane asked the state Supreme Court to dissolve the grand jury probe, arguing Carpenter overstepped his legal authority in appointing Carluccio.

In a 4-1 decision last month, the court rejected Kane's claim. Chief Justice Thomas G. Saylor said Carpenter correctly relied on legal precedent, set in Dauphin County, that allows judges to appoint special counsel to look into cases where grand jury secrecy law might have been breached.

In a concurring opinion, Justice Max Baer said Carpenter correctly forwarded the grand jury's findings to Ferman for possible prosecution. But Baer said Carpenter and Carluccio "colluded" by meeting in private.